Wang Xudong (second from left), director of the Palace Museum, signs a 2022 calendar for a guest. (JIANG DONG / CHINA DAILY)

The Palace Museum in Beijing released its calendar for 2022 on Sept 6 although the Year of the Tiger is still more than four months away. Nevertheless, for fans of traditional Chinese culture, the long wait is over.

"The calendar has become a new way for many people to record their life," Chen Lihua, editor-in-chief of the calendar, says. "It's also a way to give publicity to our recent academic achievements in simple words."

Though printed calendars seem to have lost their functionality in the digital era, the museum's exquisite calendar has become an item to collect. On each page of the new calendar, a tiger-themed cultural relic from the inventory of the Palace Museum is introduced, ranging from a jade ornament in the shape of a tiger dating back some 5,000 years to paintings created by modern Chinese masters such as Qi Baishi and Zhang Daqian.

"The tiger is an auspicious symbol in traditional Chinese culture, which stands for strength and energy," Chen says. "We want to reflect tiger-related culture from various facets."

Many other cultural relics－weapons, props used in stage performances and costumes－unveil the symbol of power from different aspects in the new calendar.

As the 2022 Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held in China in February, a section of the calendar will introduce royal winter sports during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) through art pieces.

On each page of the new calendar, a tiger-themed cultural relic from the inventory of the Palace Museum is introduced. (JIANG DONG / CHINA DAILY)

The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, has been releasing annual calendars for Lunar New Year.

Between 1933 and 1937, the Palace Museum published its calendars, but the project was halted after Beijing was occupied during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

This almost forgotten history was revived by Zheng Xinmiao, director of the museum from 2002 to 2012 when he found some old calendars in the library there. The practice of printing calendars resumed in 2009, using a format identical to that used in 1937, and its popularity made it a routine for the museum. Since 2010, a new version of calendars has been released annually and over 4 million have been sold since 2009, according to Chen.

More than 4,300 cultural relics from the museum have been shown through annual calendars so far. Nevertheless, the 1.86 million cultural relics housed at the Palace Museum keep offering inspiration to officials to continue the project.

"The calendars are not only books introducing history and cultural heritage of the Palace Museum, "Wang Xudong, director of the museum, says. "They are also key platforms to promote traditional Chinese culture and witness Palace Museum researchers' lasting spirit of exploration."

In spite of the established reputation, creativity is still needed for new editions of the annual calendar. Other than new design of pages, augmented reality is now being used, enabling readers to have a view of the moving pictures of cultural relics by scanning QR codes.